


Hell Raiser

by Starfruit



Category: Free!
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Contracts, Demons, F/F, Familiars, Hell, Humor, I kind of just use bits from that world that I like, I might bring in other sports anime, Loosely based on Nora, M/M, Magic-Users, Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom - Freeform, One Sided Rivalry, Pretty much this is going to be gay shonen trash and I love it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-29
Packaged: 2018-02-10 19:12:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2036745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starfruit/pseuds/Starfruit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto wanted a normal life of being happily walked on by everyone around him, but that becomes impossible when he agrees to be the water demon Haruka's familiar! Now, he's forced to fight alongside his new companion in order to survive the fierce competition known as Hell Raiser. </p><p>Or </p><p>Haru wanted a normal life of happily eating demon mackerel in hell's vast oceans, but that becomes impossible when Rin tricks him into entering Hell Raiser! Now, he's forced to find a human familiar so that he can survive the treacherous competition and become hell's next Devil.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have a problem called I don't know how to stop writing Free fanfiction (and taking selfies). I hate myself.

“As you all know,” Miho hollered in the hollow caverns of hell. She was adorned in her finest robe, wearing her fieriest crown. “My time as supreme ruler, Devil, is coming to an all-too-soon end.” She sighed as she looked down at the crowd of demons, listening intently to the powerful Devil’s speech. “Really, these past 742, 550 years have flown by so fast. But as I bid my time adieu, we must welcome in a new ruler!”

This statement was met with whispers and joyful cheers. They knew what was to come, the most celebrated event in their world… for the more violent demons.

Miho smiled and threw her hands into the air.

“Let Hell Raiser begin! Ladies and Gentlemen, the new Devil will be decided by this thrilling competition! Demons who think you are worthy, now is your chance to shine! Don’t wait another 742, 550 years, you might not live that long…!” Her wicked cackle echoed throughout all of hell followed by the excited shouts of 1000 demons.

 

▼▼▼

 

Makoto exhaled deeply as he stared at the dead leaves and other junk that had littered the pool.

“Mom was right,” he muttered to himself, head hung low.

Since he was born, Makoto had always been a gentle soul. He smiled when others smiled. Making people happy made him happy. He studied hard to please his parents, always played with his little brother and sister to make them giggle, and even said yes to joining the swim team in year one of high school because that was the club that asked him first. He was a grade A pushover and his mother told him that he needed to learn to put his foot down or it’d get him into trouble one day.

He stared at the net he held and then at the sullied pool, dreading the tedious task at hand.

“How did I get stuck cleaning the pool all by myself?” he whined.

Worst of all, he had also promised to hang out some girls after school, study, and give Ren and Ran their bath.

He was certainly in trouble. There was no way he could do all that. Another sigh.

“What am I going to do…?”

“Come with me.”

“Huh?”

Makoto looked up from his depressing thoughts to see a boy poking his head out of the water. Scream was obviously the next logical step as was falling over and pointing and screaming some more.

“So noisy,” the boy groaned, lifting straight out of the water and into the air. He wore a short black parka that exposed his midriff. The hood was lined with dark purple fur. The boy’s pants were black and fashionably tight. He kept the purple and black colors scheme going with his oversized sneakers. “Come with me.”

“Y-you’re y-you’re y-you’re-”

“I’m?” the boy asked as though everything he was doing was normal.

“You’re floating in the air!” Makoto shouted, eyes twitching. He was pretty sure he was either tired and hallucinating, or genuinely going crazy.

“Oh,” the boy said, lowering himself from above the pool and landing on the water. “Is this better?”

“You’re standing on the water?!” Makoto pulled at his face. How was this actually happening? Who was this guy and where did he come from? Could Makoto just go home?

“Damn it,” the boy cursed emotionlessly. “I really don’t get the dynamics of this world.”

With his hands resting coolly in his pockets, he began to approach Makoto causing the fallen brunet to stand and run for the door.

“Water Magica: Ice Shot.”

A rush of blue passed by Makoto, before it covered the rooftop’s door and froze in place.

 _He just froze the door shut with water!_ Makoto thought fearfully, turning towards the boy with a shocked face. What should he do? He still had things to do. He had to clean the pool, meet up with those girls, study, give so many baths to Ren and Ran, graduate, get married, give baths to his own kids, truly live for himself and not for others – he couldn’t die here!

Makoto fell to his knees and clasped his hands together as the boy stood directly in front of him.

“Please don’t kill me!” Makoto begged. “I have so much I still need to do!”

“Okay,” the boy replied, pulling a scroll from his pocket and letting it roll out. “Sign this with your blood.”

“…Eh?” Makoto asked, looking up, a bit dumbfounded.

“I’m the water demon, Haruka,” Haru said. “I need to become your familiar.”

“…Eh?!” Makoto cocked his head to the side before glancing around the school’s roof. “Is this a hidden camera show? Am I being pranked?”

“Hurry up and prick your finger,” Haru demanded, grabbing at Makoto’s hand.

“W-wait!” Makoto shouted, pulling away and standing. “I don’t get what’s going on at all!”

Haru sighed. He hated hassles like this. He thought he had picked someone easy, a wuss who said yes to everything, but it appeared that even the easiest of humans were wary of jumping into things like demon contracts.

“I told you I’m a demon,” Haru explained, bringing his other hand out of his pocket and forming a small ball of water using very basic magic. “I come from hell seeking to be a human's familiar in order to participate in a competition known as Hell Raiser. It determines the next Devil, ruler of the demon world. I can’t compete without being a human's familiar. In fact, if I don’t become one soon, I’ll die. So, hurry up and sign your name in blood!”

Haru grabbed Makoto’s hand and bit the brunet’s thumb so that it bled.

“Ow!” Makoto cried, ripping his hand away. “Now hold on just a minute!”

“I don’t have a lot of minutes to hold on to you know…” Haru growled impatiently.

“Why does it have to be me?”

“Because I chose you.”

“Well then, choose someone else!”

“I don’t have time, I’ll die!”

“So form the contract with me then cancel it once you find someone else!”

“I can’t, I’ll die!”

“Then just quit the competition!”

“I can’t, I’ll-”

“You’ll die! I get it, I get it. Oh man,” Makoto turned away and rubbed his temples. “Just give me time to think.”

“I think we’ve already been over the fact that time is something I don’t have,” Haru hissed. He could feel the magic keeping him in this world draining. He knew if he returned to his world without a contract now, he wouldn’t have a chance to come back and try again. “Just sign it already.”

Just then, Makoto could’ve sworn he heard a voice, one he’s definitely heard before whisper “ _Sign it. You must sign that contract!_ "

“Fine, fine!” Makoto agreed hastily, driven by the voice. He closed his eyes and regretted what he was doing as he was doing it. He opened his eyes to see his name staining thick yellow paper red. “…What have I done…?”

“Thanks,” Haru said, rolling up the scroll and placing it back in his pocket. He then began quickly spouting off, “Now I’m obligated by demon law to tell you that the contract you have just signed may only be cancelled if both parties agree to its cancellation or if one of the two parties is to pass the day and year of your return to the human world is not guaranteed due to the poor translation of demon time to human time a demon contract holder bears no accountability should the human body be incapable of holding the demon’s excessive amounts of magical energy which may lead to loss of life upon return to the human world your memories of hell will be erased as stated by the Devil Satan in Article IV of Demon Law and Particulars side effects for new human contract holders may include headaches delirium cramps muscle pain temporary blindness and even death. Any questions?”

“What?! You said it all too fast! Could you repeat that?”

“No, no time. Let’s go.”

With a snap of Haru’s fingers, the rooftop was quiet again and Makoto found himself in a whole new world.


	2. Chapter 2

Makoto let out a small cry as the portal spit him out onto a cold forest floor. He shivered, standing up and looking back at Haru who stepped calmly out of the portal and onto the hard ground that had just cut into Makoto.

The human boy was still dressed in the white shirt and green track pants he wore when cleaning the pool with a matching track jacket tied around his waist. His clothes were now sullied and doing nothing to help fight the piercing cold.

He glanced about to see nothing but trees and shadows. His breaths made curls of steam in the air.

“Where in the hell are we?” Makoto shouted, rubbing his upper arms in a futile attempt to keep warm.

“The higher seventh sector, Dormant,” Haru said, walking casually along no specific path.

Makoto struggled to keep up with him.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” the human said with chattering teeth. “Man, we really are in another world then… ugh, what the hell?”

“If you keep saying hell,” Haru said, turning to his companion. “I’m going to get confused.”

“S-Sorry,” Makoto sniffled and wiped his nose.

“Are you cold?” Haru asked, stopping and staring.

“Well, yeah!” Makoto replied with another sniff. “You’re not? With your stomach all out…”

Haru held Makoto’s hands as he said, “I don’t know much Fire Magica, so I can’t warm you up, but I can make you more resistant to the cold if you want.”

“That’d be great!” Makoto smiled.

“Declaring Water Magica: Ice Permanence.”

A minute of silence. Makoto expected a light to shine or for Haru’s eyes to glow, but… nothing. Nothing happened.

“It didn’t work…” Makoto mumbled.

“Because I just declared it,” Haru said, irritation tickling at his tone. “You need to approve it.”

“Huh?”

“Since we’ve formed the contract, you contain my magical energy. I need your permission in order to use this energy. You can give permission by saying ‘I approve’ or deny it by saying ‘I forbid.’ If you say you ‘forbid’ without me having declared magic, it just hurts, so don’t do it. Now, let’s try this again. I declare Water Magica: Ice Permanence.”

“Oh, um, I,” Makoto stuttered. “I-I approve?”

Blue light shown from where their hands met, a complicated symbol appearing in the shine before bursting away in a soft puff and then suddenly, he didn’t feel as cold. It had gone from freezing to refreshingly cool in a second.

“Wow,” Makoto murmured, unhooking his hands from Haruka’s and staring at his no longer reddened fingers. “It really worked.”

Haru wordlessly continued to move. Makoto caught up with him after zipping up his track jacket to help combat the weather even further.

As they walked in silence, Makoto made note of things he found interesting. For instance, the unearthly height of the trees and how incredibly bare they were. How it seemed like it should be snowing, but no white tufts were to be seen. How the ground looked and felt more like uneven concrete than dirt. Overall, the forest was barren, dark, and lonely.

He wanted to ask so many questions, but didn’t know where to start. Like what was with Haruka’s weird clothes? And where were they going? And was it nighttime or was the Dormant forest always this dark? When would Makoto get to go back home? 

"What is Hell Raiser?" Makoto settled on asking this.

"I already told you," Haru said. "It's a competition between demons to see who will be the next ruler of hell."

"I guess I meant to ask something more like, how does it work?" 

Haru sighed before explaining, "Participating demons team up with a human and take out their opponents until the last one standing is crowned. Once you're signed up and the games have officially begun, you're bound to these rules: No travelling to the human world, no breaking contract with your human, and no pulling out of Hell Raiser. Breaking any of these means death. Pretty much once a demon signs up for Hell Raiser, there's two options: die or become the next Devil." 

Makoto stared at Haruka wide-eyed. Was this guy crazy or just really optimistic? How many demons were in this things and just wait-wait a minute. 

Makoto stopped where he was and shouted, "Am I going to die?"

Haru shrugged, still walking. "Hopefully not. You die, I die. But if I die and you live, then you just get sent back to the human world with a wiped memory."

Makoto wasn't sure if he felt comforted or not. Was Haruka strong? He didn't want to see Haruka dead (or anyone for that matter), but he would rather the demon go than himself. He jogged to keep up with Haruka. 

"You must be pretty confident," Makoto said, looking around the emptiness, wondering where everyone else was. "So, you want to be leader of this world?"

"No," Haru said. 

This confused Makoto and he was going to ask what Haruka meant, but was distracted by a large flare sounding out in the sky. Miho's voice bellowing, "Start!" could be heard as clear as day to everyone in the demon world. 

"It's begun then," Haru noted, gazing up at the sky with Makoto cowering beside him, shocked by the suddenness of the flare. 

The sound of a step behind them made Makoto flinch. He grabbed onto Haru, already on the verge of tears.

“There’s someone behind us!” Makoto said.

“I know,” Haru replied. “They’ve been following us since we’ve left the portal.”

“What should we do?”

“Nothing. He won’t fight here. He’s just here to cause trouble.”

 

“ **Declaring Fire Magica: Twin Snakes Cry.** ”

“ **I approve.** ”

 

“I declare Water Magica: Blue Barrier.”

“I appro-”

Before Makoto could even get the words out, Haru shoved him to the ground, saving the human from a twist of raging flames shooting over him. Even after the fire died out, a shaking Makoto remained on the forest floor.

A tall brunet strode out from the shadows with crossed arms.

“So, you actually became a familiar,” said a shorter redheaded boy, stepping out next to him. “Haru.”

“What do you want,” Haru asked, hands coolly in his parka’s pockets. “Rin?”

“Not much,” Rin laughed. “I mean, I’m not going to kill you right now,” his smirk turned sick. “I’ll wait until you’re stronger for that.”

“Then what was with that attack just now?” Haru questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Nothing really,” Rin scoffed. “Sousuke and I just wanted to prove that we’re strong even in Dormant. Can you say the same if you were on my territory?”

Haru merely blinked before reaching a hand out to Makoto.

“Get up,” he demanded.

Reluctantly, Makoto took the demon’s hand and stood. He was so over this. He didn’t really understand what he had signed up for. He wanted to just go home and see his family again, forgetting that this weird dream ever happened. He was sorry if that meant Haru had to die in the process, but he had gotten himself deep into something he couldn’t handle. He grabbed onto Haru’s coat and mouthed the words “I want to go home,” but couldn’t manage to get the words out in between his choked silent sobs. He was scared and cold and with some inhuman stranger that he didn’t even like too much when he was supposed to be giving his brother and sister a warm, play-filled bath.

“Come on,” Haru said, ready to walk away.

Rin chuckled, “Looks like your human’s having problems. Good thing this freak Sousuke is a weird human who’s always been into this kind of thing.”

 _Human?!_ Makoto thought, eyes snapping wide. Without much more deliberation, he ran to Sousuke, clinging to the boy’s tight black tank top. He looked up in blue orbs with watery, innocent eyes.

“You’re human too?” Makoto cried. “I’m scared! How do we get home?”

“Huh?” Sousuke uttered, taken off guard. Mainly taken off guard by how cute such a burly guy could be. Those glimmering emeralds of eyes called to Sousuke and the way Makoto’s creamy cheeks tinted the cutest pink was maddening. Not to mention how adorable his quivering lips were. “Don't worry, I’ll protect you!” Sousuke announced, clasping onto Makoto’s hands.

“What.” Rin and Haru simultaneously deadpanned, gawking at their partner who seemed to be stuck in a romantic movie moment.

“Really?” Makoto whimpered.

“Yes!” Sousuke squeezed a little tighter. His heart had never beat so fast for someone. Everything else fell forgotten, all that mattered was him and this beautiful unknown boy and their hands warming each other up. “If you ever need _anything_ , I’ll be there to help you out.”

“Sousuke, what the fuck are you saying? They’re the ene-” “ **I forbid.** ” “myyyyyowowow! That fucking hurt! Sousuke!”

“Thanks for the offer, Rin’s human, but-” “ **I’m talking to this lovely creature not you, demon.** ” “…Rin, your human is annoying.”

Feeling a little safer with a new human friend in this frightening world, Makoto smiled a bit, not nearly as afraid of what’s to come.

 

Not too far away, high up in a tree, two figures watched the scene below.

“Waoo~” A high-pitched voice sang. “People really are disgusting things, aren’t they?”

“Yes,” another voice said.

“People were mean to you, weren’t they?”

“Yes.”

“That’s why we'll kill off the humans and not the demons, isn’t it?”

“…Yes.”

“Come on, let’s go kill all the people who thought you were ugly, Rei-chan.”

“Yes, Nagisa-kun.”

Then in a flash, the figures were off their branch and back to being shrouded in the forest’s darkness.


End file.
